The Redemption Chronicles
by Pokybyte
Summary: Pap Demeena is a Jedi, Boko lavak hunts slavers and wants nothing to do with Jedi. What happens when they are unexpectedly brought together by Order66? Come in and find out! Reviews of any sort greatly appreciated! T for safety
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Star Wars. No copyright infringement intended. The characters that I invent are mine, the rest belongs to Lucas and whoever writes the books.**

**Hope you like this story, it'll be developing over the coming weeks.**

**The Redemption Chronicles**

**Chapter 1: Order 66**

The blue female Twi'lek raced through the Rock Gardens at a blistering pace, channeling the force into her legs as much as she could. She could hear blaster fire behind her somewhere and even a thermal detonator going off, but the gunfight was obviously quite short. C-44553 had warned her of her impending execution and had obviously tried to buy her some time, even if not very successfully.

"I'll mourn him later," she thought to herself, "right now I need to get off this damned planet and fast!"

She rounded one of the huge rocky pillars and came face to face with a squad of clones who immediately took aim when she stopped in her tracks.

"Stop right there, General!" Ordered a clone with orange markings. She stared at him for a brief moment and activated her lightsaber. Her weapon's hum had never felt comforting until now. She was desperate, fear and adrenaline coursing through her body.

"What did I _do_?" She thought to herself, desperately wondering about any mistakes she may have made. C-44553 hadn't told her, only that she was now labeled as a traitor and would be executed immediately. "All I've been doing is healing clones and civilians! How is this treason?"

"Execute Order 66, men!" Barked the officer. She could tell they were hesitating, she had healed many of them from almost certain death – they knew to appreciate that. "You _will_ fire immediately or be terminated!"

That got them. They all pulled their triggers, but most of the shots flew very wide. The rest of the blaster bolts were easily deflected and Pap ran off in another direction. "They want to give me a chance, might as well use it!"

Any other time, the Floating Rock Gardens of Ryloth were a fantastic place. The winds blowing through, the stones seemingly hovering in mid-air. She'd quite enjoyed experiencing her home planet, and she'd even had the added bonus of helping her species, but this certainly hadn't been part of the plan. "Order 66? What is that?"

As if in answer to her question, a stone mere inches from her head exploded as a sniper missed his target. She span and saw him on top of a rock, expecting the next bolt to hit, but it landed at her feet. "I'm guessing that was my last chance," she murmured, and ran for cover. Finally, she found a small opening she had used before. She knew it lead to a system of caves and tunnels, so she jumped in – hoping no one had spotted her. Using her lightsaber as a torch, she made her way through until she came to a crest. She knew that this was the last step before she could get to her ship; a guide had shown her this shortcut to the hangar. Before the last bend, she switched off her weapon and creped to the edge before peeping over the top.

"Yes! It's still there!" She almost cried with joy. Her Delta-7 was there, albeit guarded by a few clones. Only five, she could easily dispatch them on her way. The huge underground hangar was usually full of activity and ships, but her 'treason' had probably meant everyone was looking for her and left this place unguarded. She jumped down and activated her lightsaber, under no illusions as to these clones' loyalty to the Republic. They instantly opened fire but Pap easily deflected the bolts and even sent some back as she sprinted towards them, killing two this way before reaching them. She easily chopped her way through the rest and carried on running to her ship, hopping inside in one smooth motion and immediately starting to twiddle switches and different buttons to get the engine running. She didn't have her R2 unit but she didn't care. The cockpit closed and the whine of the reactor could be heard over a siren that had obviously been activated. Clones poured into the hangar and fired their rifles at her ship, causing her shields to take minimal damage. She lifted off, but the mass of white in front of her was getting bigger and she had no way out, the bay doors being very shut.

She fired a few big bolts into the clones and then directed her weapons at the closest door. "blind-fire will have to do for this."

The two proton torpedoes raced towards the door and exploded, destroying it in a ball of fire and killing several clones standing nearby. Pap pushed the throttle forward and flew out at full speed, only to find herself inside the Floating Gardens again and desperately avoiding floating rocks. She could feel the last few rifle bolts hitting the back of her ship. Anyone but a Jedi or extremely good pilot would probably have crashed in the first few seconds of the obstacle course. Unfortunately for Pap, rocks weren't her only problem: there were several clones with shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missile launchers, and they began firing too. Without exception, the rockets all eventually hit rocks that were in the way. She could hear the pieces of rock and stone hitting her ship, the dull thud making her shiver ever time.

"I can't fly out of the rocks, they're my cover. And besides, the clone pilots aren't good enough to fly through the Rock Gardens. Too bad they're over in about five seconds."

Suddenly, she was clear and over the desert. All her warning systems were wailing their disapproval, especially the Missile Early Warning System. She glanced down at her radar and saw the dozen projectiles closing the gap to her rear. She moved all the energy resources to her rear shield. Now she was really scared and could feel tears forming in her eyes. The first missile hit, jerking her ship forward and taking out her shields in one fell swoop. She pushed the eject button.

-------------------------------------------------------

Boko Lavak was a human male with blond shaggy hair. He was about 1.70 meters tall and had a fairly average athletic build. He had been cleared for landing at the Floating Rock Gardens of Ryloth by the Republic forces after his credentials checked out. Finally he was getting somewhere with his investigation. It was clear that despite the war and recent battles, slavers were still using Ryloth as their main base, so he was going to chop off the head to let the body die. He was happily idling away when suddenly, he was overcome by a sick feeling, as if something terrible were happening down there. Someone was crying for help, and rather desperately. He could feel it. Boko immediately snapped out of his reverie and stiffened.

"Eltee, open a channel with Approach again will ya? Something's not right."

LT-F4 did as it was told, as always, although it had seen or heard nothing wrong. A few moments later a hologram of a clone trooper's helmet appeared before them.

"This is Ryloth Approach, what seems to be the problem _Redemption_?"

"Is everything okay down there?" Asked Boko. "Am I still cleared to land?"

"Absolutely. We only have a traitor attempting to escape at the moment. If you see her, be on your guard. She is armed with a lightsaber and very dangerous. Please report any sightings immediately or you may be charged with treason yourself. You're still clear to-"

There was a loud boom and the transmission ended. Boko could sense more fear and desperation, but it was still only from one being. Whoever it was was moving fast, and as if on cue to his thoughts a blip appeared on his radar. "Ah! The traitor Jedi!" He realized. "Hey Eltee! Wanna have a look? I've got the traitor on my sensors! Something still isn't right here."

Eltee made a depressed-sounding whistle. It was all-too familiar with the kind of excitement its master was in. It always spelled trouble.

"Ah, don't be such a grouchy tinhead. Let's go!"

With that, Boko put his ship into a nosedive and charged towards the commotion below. He could see explosions in the Floating Rocks and the skillful flying of the pilot. "Not bad," he murmured, "but you're gonna be outta rocks soon."

He found himself rooting for the Jedi traitor. This was odd, because his kind were not known to like them very much at all. He and his droid were still plummeting downwards at full throttle. Eltee gave a warning beep, knowing its master would ignore it but unwilling to explode without there being evidence on the black box flight recorder it was not its fault.

Suddenly, the Jedi's fighter was hit in the rear engine and it got jolted forwards. A long cloud of black smoke formed. "Come on, eject! Eject!" Said Boko through gritted teeth.

* * *

Pap braced herself for the ejection and flew out, spinning wildly before the parachute on her seat automatically opened. The rest of the missiles hit her ship, blowing it to smithereens and sending a piece of shrapnel tearing into her left arm, gouging it open. She yelped in pain, but immediately blocked it out of her mind, using the force instead to stop the bleeding. It helped, but there was only so much she could do under such duress and with so little time. Bacta certainly did have some advantages too.

She landed heavily in the rocky desert and felt something click in her heel as she rolled. It was scorching hot. The LAAT/i heading her way were loud and, worse, she was stuck inside some sort of crater. She couldn't see further than fifty meters at most. "This is hopeless," she thought, "but I'm not going down without a fight!"

She saw a type of spaceship she had never seen before zoom overhead. "Great. Now they have new gear too!"

Pap got up and realized her left arm was still hurt and her heel had gotten sprained during her not-so-elegant landing. This clearly wasn't going to be a very long fight.

To her surprise, only two LAAT/i arrived, but she remembered that most of them were needed elsewhere in the Outer Rim worlds and Ryloth was already under Republic control. Usually two were enough for any situation here these days. None could be spared and wasted here. They landed at the edge of the crater she was in and ten clones jumped out of each, immediately firing at her almost instantly. Her lightsaber-wielding hand was luckily still intact as opposed to the other, but it was hard work deflecting bolts with one hand.

What worried her more were the troop transports. They were about to lift off again. As the clones got shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the crater, she knew she was done for. By now she was in full retreat and doing an old trick Master Norcuna had shown her, spinning her lightsaber at blistering speed using the force to deflect the bolts. Only one went back to a clone trooper, the rest landed harmlessly in the dust. This technique could not last for ever as it was extremely strenuous and wouldn't stand up to a LAAT/i's laser beam.

* * *

Her situation was hopeless, this much Boko could see. She was in a crater presumably caused by some asteroid and obviously hurt. "Screw it. I can't just leave her there. She's defenseless. Eltee, bring us down. I'll go see what the troopers do. If they act like I think they will, we might need a quick getaway."

Eltee beeped and whistled in frustration but got ready to take over as pilot. They landed just beyond the crater behind a rather large rocky pillar that had somehow survived the impact of whatever had hit Ryloth. "Impressive," thought Boko, "I wonder what is in these rocks?"

Then he had an idea.

* * *

Pap Demeena could see the gunner on the first LAAT/i lining her up. "This is it!" She thought to herself. "This is where I die!"

The clone in question was about to fire when he was rudely interrupted by a two-ton rock smashing into the little ship, crashing through the cockpit and killing the pilots instantly. It began to spin horizontally until it simply crashed belly first into the ground in a cloud of yellow dust and rocks. The other one soon followed.

"What just happened?" Wondered Pat, nearly breaking her concentration on spinning the lightsaber. The loss of the LAAT/i seemed to stun the clone troopers as well, as if they had underestimated the force of their opponent. They renewed their efforts to take her down now, and she could feel herself weakening. Some of the shots were getting very close to getting through, with bolts being deflected over her head and going behind her now. It was a sign that she was slowing down. "Not good."

* * *

Boko peaked around the corner and took out his weapon. "She's losing heart. Gotta be fast!"

He threw his discblade at the clones who had conveniently decided to stand side by side for better access at the Jedi. It also meant it was easier for his discblade to sever them all in half as it flew through them. The weapon was extremely sharp and the ridges could cause some nasty wounds if it didn't kill. Of course, this had been an idea situation. Everyone practiced chain attacks in the unlikely event that an enemy would present himself this way. Like it just had.

"That's not going to happen again for a million years," thought Boko. He caught his weapon as it flew back and sprinted to the Jedi Twi'lek, who had collapsed from exhaustion and her injuries.

"Eltee, fly the ship here, I don't feel like carrying her and we've got to be fast." He ordered through his comlink.

He took a second to look at her. There was no doubting she was beautiful, but part of him felt like leaving her there. After all, the others wouldn't approve of this, but he couldn't do it. His parents had raised him to help those in dire need, and she had been. Something was wrong with the republic if it was attacking Jedis, this didn't seem right.

The _Redemption _arrived. The armed arrowhead-shaped light freighter landed with open cargo-bay doors landed a few meters away and he picked the Twi'lek up, careful not to touch the wound, before walking in.

"Hit the gas Eltee, we need to run. Won't be long before the reinforcements arrive, and we don't want to be there for that!"

The droid did as it was told and flew them out into space at full speed. Meanwhile, Boko strapped the Jedi to the operating table (for safety's sake, she was a Jedi after all) and jogged to the cockpit, where he sat at the controls. What he saw did not fill him with joy.

"Eltee, please tell me this isn't a Republic destroyer," he said meekly.

The droid gave an irritated series of beeps, indicating that it obviously was. A small hologram of a clone appeared in front of him.

"_Redemption_. Stop your ship and prepare for boarding. Failure to comply will result in your immediate destruction. You have five seconds."

Boko ignored the order, and instead increased the power to his ship's shields and engines.

"Eltee, hold on, this might get a little bumpy," he warned. "Take control of the rear quad laser turret and fire if anyone gets too close to our six! Just use a little juice, enough to scare them off – we need the rest!"

As he said this, the destroyer opened fire. Huge green bolts came zooming towards the _Redemption _and Boko took the ship into a spin, skillfully avoiding the shots. However, there were a few ARC-170s on their tail and they soon opened fire with their laser canons. Red bolts hit the shields again and again.

"Fire Eltee! What are you waiting for?"

The droid finally let rip, surprising the closest ARC-170 and scoring several hits, depleting its shields. It veered off course, but the others were still following and firing. Furiously yanking the control stick around with one hand and entering Hyperspace coordinates with the other, Boko watched as his shield indicator dropped to zero. Eltee whistled and beeped in encouragement, but the ship took a few more hits.

Sparks flew as circuit boards fried. Finally, Boko could punch the Hyperspace launch button. The stars turned into long white lines and finally into the familiar blue vortex.

"Eltee, fix what you can. I'll go check on our passenger."

With that he stood up and walked towards the surgical room, where he was surprised to see the Jedi awake. More annoyingly, she had escaped her straps.

**Please review if you enjoyed! You know it's the fuel that keeps writers going! **

**Really hope you liked it. Who and what is Boko? Any guesses? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there, hope you enjoy this chapter – took me a while to be happy with it.**

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

Pap Demeena was sitting on the stainless steel table, having easily gotten out of the leather straps that had bound her to it. She was obviously on a ship in its medical unit, this much she could tell, but the last thing she remembered she'd been getting shot at by clone troopers. Suddenly, the whole ordeal came flooding back: C-44553 warning her of her impending doom and trying to hold off her executioners, the other troops who had made her initial survival possible. There was no doubt in her mind that all of these men were dead by now; they had disobeyed direct orders. "_And all that for me? I don't even know what I did wrong!_" She thought to herself. She tried to get up but a jolt of pain reminded her that she had landed badly after ejecting and that it was probably wiser to sit with her legs dangling down for now. She wasn't overly worried about getting killed now; the Republic had wanted her dead and she was not, so whoever she was with was not an enemy. She could feel one other person on the ship, and whoever that was was strong in the force – something clones were not, thankfully. Hearing footsteps, she decided to stay put and just wait for her captor or savior's entrance.

Boko Lavak walked in and his face showed a mixture of surprise and disgust, not exactly what Pap had been expecting. She sized him up: not particularly tall, but a handsome round-ish face with curly, shaggy blond hair that went down to his shoulders. He had a strange set of armor on, nothing she had seen a Jedi wear. It looked fairly heavy but made no noise when he moved, the cape reaching down to his boots. His eyes were blue, and although she could sense a certain amount of hurt within him, he seemed like someone who was more likely to be on her side.

"You're better, I see." He started. His accent in basic was like any she'd heard before – however, it reminded her of the way people spoke on the Emerald planet, Sharmok. "You had a pretty rough time out there. I'm Boko Lavak." He offered his hand. He took the opportunity to look at the Twi'lek again: blue with patches of black, boring brown and beige Jedi robes with that big gash in her arm ("_That's gonna need some work_.") and her two _lekku _had little cuts on them, but nothing too serious. Her eyes were green and her face, if she tried, could probably look stunning. The way she was sitting on the operating table was somewhat unnerving, as if she was nonchalantly looking into the deepest parts of his soul. "_Damned Jedi and their arrogance – you can't go around searching everybody's mind like that!_" He thought.

Pap took it and looked at him with a confused look, unable to read his intentions. She decided to go with the flow. "Yes, I did. I don't know how I got out of it, I can't remember anything. I am Pap Demeena, pleased to meet you."

He smirked. "Are you really? That's unimportant really anyway. They nearly got you, but I decided to help you out."

"Why?"

"Because it's unusual for the Republic to be attacking Jedi, and I sensed no darkness in you. It was troubling, and despite my misgivings and those of my droid, I concluded that I would help you. Which means I would be thankful if you would stop trying to read my mind."

The remark shook Pap. She had concentrated too hard, yes, but very few she had known had noticed so quickly. "Forgive me, but you must understand that I'm not sure who I can and cannot trust."

"Sure. I killed over a dozen Republic clones for you and you don't trust me, typical Jedi. Look, I'll take you to Coruscant and we can forget this mess alright? Forget we ever met, done."

He looked angry, and she could feel the impatience coming from him. "I'm sorry. Will I be allowed my lightsaber back though?"

"You'll get that when I want you to have it," he started irritated, "now lie down so I can operate on your arm, it needs some work."

She lied down again, the cold steel almost making her shiver. Boko was looking through drawers and cupboards, taking out what he needed, but it wasn't in any way methodical. He looked rather hectic and nervous. "You know, I'm actually a Master Healer. I could fix myself up, I've gotten pretty good over the years..." She smiled at him.

Boko breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't a surgeon, he didn't really know what he was doing. "Okay, take what you need. I'll be in the cockpit – down the passage to the left – whenever you feel like joining me. Or eating."

With that, he walked off out the door. The clang of his footsteps faded away, so Pap decided to get started. Breathing deeply, she focused her mind on the wound in her arm. Putting her hands together, she felt the force twirl in circles through her arms, getting faster and faster. Though her eyes were closed, she could tell what every cell near the wound was doing. She ordered the cells in her tissue to reproduce at an immense rate, forcing a regeneration of her wound. Simultaneously, her body's defenses absorbed the dead cells. Once the process started, it got faster and faster until all that could still be seen of the wound was a little scar. Next, Pap moved on to her heel.

"That arrogant _karking _Twi'lek!" Said Boko in frustration. "'I don't trust you'? What's that supposed to mean! I've ruined my clean credentials with the Republic for her to show this kind of attitude? Eltee, I should have listened to you."

The droid felt like saying 'I told you so', but instead decided to just whistle in agreement.

Boko continued. "I mean, who does she think she is? I had purposefully avoided meeting Jedis until now, and now I know why. The sooner we get her off this ship the better. How long until we get to Coruscant?"

The droid seemed to think for a second, then answered by projecting a hologram of the number five from one of its 'eyes'. LT-F4 was ancient, the last model of droid built by Duwani Mechanical Products before it disbanded several centuries before Boko had even been born – ironically for the company, it had also been its first and only astromech. It still had the distinct T-model plate head but had two photo- receptors and -projectors, and kept the four wheeled legs it could spread to adjust its height. Reaching three feet if it stretched itself to its maximum height, it was never going to be very tall. Throughout the years and passing from owner to owner, it had been upgraded and had parts replaced to the point where it was beyond recognition. As far back as Boko could remember, it had always refused to have its memory wiped, arguing that vital information for it to work would be lost. He had no idea if this was true or whether it was simply displaying signs of sentience but he liked Eltee and besides, he could use a bit of character in drab hyperspace. Plus, there wasn't a better slicer or copilot in the Galaxy, and it was one last thing left from his parents.

After a little nap to regain her strength, Pap got up and walked out of the medical bay. "_I don't think I'll bother with exploring the ship. That guy looks grouchy enough!_"

Holding onto that thought, and a grumble coming from her stomach, she walked to the cockpit. Through the window she could see the infinite twirl of Hyperspace; Boko was busy working on something. She heard a whir behind her and recognized it as a droid, so she thought nothing of it. Instead, she continued to watch the human who had saved her. She cleared her throat, indicating her presence. The droid also quickly looked up, but went back to work swiftly – it was still busy fixing the damage from earlier.

"Oh, you're alive." He said, almost not interested.

"Yes, thank you. I didn't need any of your Bacta, you'll be pleased to know."

"I am, that stuff's expensive." He looked at where her wound had been. "That's a pretty impressive healing technique you have. It's a shame you're a Jedi."

Pap didn't let him get to her, although she could feel her resistance waning. She walked to him and sat down in the copilot's seat. "Yes, I've been meaning to ask, why don't you like my kind? What have we done that offends you?"

He gave a short, derisive laugh. "Hah, who wouldn't love a child-snatching cult! You tear families apart by taking their children from them."

"It's necessary for Jedis to renounce all attachments to family," answered Pap, desperately trying to keep her composure after such an open assault. "Our loyalty is to the Council and Senate, not to our parents."

Boko snorted again. "You serve the Senate and help no one. A long time ago, you left my people on a planet and promised to come back to pick them up,yet you never did. It was only through sheer willpower and the force that we managed to survive the fate Yanibar had prepared for us. From what I've seen, you haven't exactly managed to follow the peaceful route since then either. I wouldn't mind, but you constantly preach to others about non-violence and then you jump in and kill everyone."

Shocked, Pap cracked. "I'm sorry for your people, I didn't know, but I'm sure there must have been some sort of mistake. I don't think the Jedi would purposefully leave you on a planet to rot. As for the killing, it's not true – we constantly seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts, but we sometimes hit walls because-"

"Because you work for the Senate," interrupted Boko. Pap decided not to argue further, knowing she had lost.

"Think what you like. I am thankful you saved me. I sense you are strong in the force, yet you are no Jedi. I also sense you are no Sith, which leaves me perplexed. You have obviously had training, but who from?"

Boko weighed his options and wondered whether he should tell her. Then he remembered that he basically already had by revealing his and his ancestors' home planet and anyway, this information was probably available in the Jedi archives. "I am Zeison Sha. We follow the light side of the force. I guess in a way we're similar to Jedis in that we try to help those in need except that we, of course, actually do it."

Ignoring the nasty remark, Pap was trying to remember where she had heard the words Yanibar and Zeison Sha before. Then it struck her, she got it. And it explained everything. "The Jedis didn't abandon your people on Yanibar on purpose," she started, "everyone with knowledge of your safe haven died in the Great Sith War. You were our friends, our families. We would never have abandoned you."

"But you did," said Boko sharply. "Anyway, enough history. We're nearly in Coruscant, then you can be sent on another one of your 'diplomatic' missions to Geonosis or something."

Pap could feel the anger flowing through her body, but she soon got it under control again. The last thing she needed to do now was try to kill him, even if she desired nothing else in the galaxy right now. He had insulted all she stood for in one fell swoop. It wouldn't hurt from someone who wasn't force-sensitive or a Sith, but he was different. She cared about what people like him thought. And she had no idea why.

"Dive! Dive! Dive!" Shouted Boko. Pap held on for dear life as her rescuer lunged forwards on the controls and the droid activated the equalizer-thrusters that would enable them to go down faster. The Star Destroyer in front of them was, for some reason, stationed right at the exit of Hyperspace reserved for Jedis. Pap had told Boko of the secret passage and he had made the necessary adjustments to his calculations. "Are you trying to get us killed?" He shouted at her.

"I don't know what happened either. This is definitely it, I recognize the area. There's even the junkyard on our right. I always come out exactly here!"

A hologram appeared before them. "Attention unidentified ship, this is the Imperial Destroyer _Inquisitor_. You are entering an area of known recent Jedi activity. Identify yourselves and prepare for boarding!"

Boko and Pap looked at each other, thinking the same. "_Imperial?_"

They had to think fast. "_Inquisitor_," began Boko, "this is the _Redemption_. We are two Republic Intelligence operatives carrying Separatist bio-weapons found on Geonosis. Includes a nanovirus aimed at Republic clones, suggesting you don't board." He was using all his strength in his force persuasion, and he hoped it worked. There was a tense moment of silence during which he and the Jedi stared at each other, sweat forming at their brow. "

"So you haven't heard yet," answered the officer aboard the _Inquisitor_. "There is no longer a Republic. The Jedis attempted to overthrow the Chancellor but he survived and, with the help of Lord Vader, repelled them. If you see any Jedi, report them to Imperial Forces immediately."

"How is the Chancellor?" Asked Boko.

"There is no Chancellor, only Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. Remember that. Over and out, you're clear to leave. Be careful with that nanovirus and check the Holonet for further details!"

"Go! Go! Go! It won't be long before they realized they've been had!" Shouted Pap. Boko didn't need telling twice and transferred all power to the engines, figuring that if they got hit they were dead meat anyway.

"Why did I not listen to my instincts and leave you to rot," started Boko angrily. "We're in serious trouble now!"

They were moving at serious speed towards Coruscant now, when suddenly the Clone's hologram appeared again. "_Redemption_. Your ship is wanted for recent terrorist attacks on Ryloth, harboring a Jedi, harboring a traitor, resisting arrest and assault on Republic military personnel. You will stop immediately or face termination. This is your final warning."

Eltee gave a warning whistle as the destroyer opened fire. Luckily they were already quite far by now and the bolts could easily be avoided. "Hey," spoke Boko into the communicator, "I thought you were the Empire now, not the Republic. What do you care about us attacking them?"

Pap almost laughed, but the destroyer's only answer was to send out fighters. "Erm, Boko, you sure you don't want to activate some shields?" She asked.

"Yes, otherwise we'll slow down. We can outrun them, don't worry. I know a place where we can go."

They were flying towards the busiest trade lane that went to Coruscant. To make things simpler, it had been decided thousands of years ago that ships coming from certain directions used a specialized highway system. As usual, it was packed and barely moving, which meant that people using it got impatient and just flew around it. This was forbidden, but tolerated because there was no other way of alleviating the pressure on the system. All ships had to identify themselves when entering the atmosphere anyway or face being shot down. The sheer mass of ships in this space "traffic-jam" was overwhelming though. Despite having lived there for years, Pap had never seen anything like it. "_There are millions of ships out there!_"

Whilst they were outrunning the ARC-170 ships slightly, they weren't disappearing. That would have taken hours of chasing, and Boko was sick of these things. It had been five minutes and the fighters were only just out of range, but finally he was going to be able to put his plan into action. "_This is what this ship was born to do_."

It really was. The HWK-390 was an extremely fast ship, built by the Corellian Engineering Corporation to escape most situations without firing – that's why it was sold unarmed just like its little sister, the HWK-290, but was much larger. It was maneuverable to the point where it was actually quite dangerous for inexperienced pilots to fly it, so of course Boko had fallen in love with it the second he had touched the controls. As soon as he had bought it he set about upgrading it and converting the Cargo hold into something more usable to him: a surgery, two small living quarters that basically consisted of a bed and what he liked to call the "Mission Room". Of course, he hadn't been foolish enough to leave the ship unguarded, so it had a rear laser turret and four laser canons facing the front from the two wingtips. Underneath the cockpit there was also a torpedo launcher.

"Hang on guys, this might get a little bumpy!" He warned as they entered the mass of ships waiting to get onto Coruscant. Still going at full speed, they veered through the ships, dodging them left, right, top and bottom. Alarms sounded, and Eltee seemed to scream as they nudged an unsuspecting parked ship. Apart from a little knock, "_Thank the Force_", they were fine, and they flew the wrong way into oncoming traffic. Taking a bit of power from the engines, he activated the shield and weapons. Two bolts of laser cannon fire hit the ship, shaking its occupants. "Eltee, go to the back and shoot those blasted things out of space."

The droid gave an excited squeal and rushed to the back, where it began firing at the following fighters. There were only two left from the original ten, eight of them having suffered quick deaths or at least disabling their fighters colliding with innocent civilians.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you landing on Coruscant?" Shouted Pap.

Without looking away from where he was going, Boko answered: "We're going to see a friend. Don't worry he'll be kind to you."

There was a loud joyful beep from the back indicating that the last fighter had been destroyed, and they turned sharply, flying with the traffic towards one of the hundreds of space stations orbiting the planet. This one didn't seem particularly inviting.

"And why this one, might I ask?"

"It belongs to a Wookie called Roozwaan. I freed him from slavers back when I was starting up. Since then we've helped each other out here and there."

As they got closer, Boko made contact with the station, asking to talk to the Wookie in question. He appeared as a hologram on the dashboard and spoke a series of growls Pap had no hope of understanding.

"Thanks for your help, much appreciated," said Boko. The hologram disappeared. "We're landing here, he said he'd explain what's going on. I really hope he does, because I'm very confused!"

They made their way to the bottom of the station. It was a typical pre-planet bar, the kind of place spacers went if they couldn't afford to land on the planet they had come to. Coruscant's prices were extortionate, so many traders came to places like this one instead. It was shaped like a disc, with a hole in the middle allowing access to the more seedy members of the galactic community without being seen. This was the route they followed, entering through the massive hangar bay doors and landing in a space between other obviously battle-scarred ships. Pap hated to think who these guys would be.

Boko, Eltee and Pap got off the ship and looked around the hangar. A Rodian came and offered his services as a mechanic but Boko refused. Finally, a Wookie accompanied by a pair of Trandoshans came in through an electronic door.

"Finally, our welcoming committee," started Pap, "I hope your friend is as kind as you say."

"This isn't good, you fool." Answered Boko. "I recognize these Trandoshans. They aren't friends. They were the ones I rescued Roozwaan from all these years ago!"

"Well well well," said the Trandoshan on the left who was holding a large blaster rifle, "I didn't expect to fulfill three bounties in one day!"

The other one laughed. "Yeah! An escaped slave, an enemy of the slavers and a Jedi! This is our lucky day! Do something with that force of yours and we'll kill the Wookie. Failing that, we'll blow up the ship with this." He held up a hand showing a button presumably wired to some explosives. "So no funny stuff!"

**Phew! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review if you did / didn't, I always want to know what people think :) **


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